Photo: Photos by Joy

Argo dominates

Honours to Jason Carroll at the Melges 32 US Nationals

Sunday June 12th 2011, Author: Joy Dunigan, Location: United States

The final day of racing at the 2011 US National Championship, hosted by the American Yacht Club declared Jason Carroll and his Argo Melges 32 as the new US National Champion. Tactician Cameron Appleton, Scott Norris, Chad Corning, Charles Swanson, Lindsay Bartel, Peter Crawford and Andrew Koch served as crew. Mark Plaxton's INTAC was second, while Takashi Okura's SLED had a tough day on the water slipping back to finish third overall.

Going into Sunday's races, Carroll led the fleet by an impressive 11 points and the battle for positions second through fifth remained heated. Japan's Okura sat nicely in second place, seven points ahead of Plaxton in third. Rod Jabin on Ramrod was holding on to fourth by one point over Ed Tillinghast on Dark N'Stormy in fifth place.

Light conditions prevailed for the first race of the day with Plaxton grabbing an early lead rounding the top mark in first, with John Taylor's Ninkasi in second and Benjamin Schwartz's Pisces in third. Downwind, Plaxton, Taylor and Schwartz held on to their respective positions through the gate, with a 20° course change being implemented. The fleet headed back upwind with Alexis Michas' Zetiana and Schwartz's Pisces staying left enabling them to advance. Michas went on to win, Plaxton took second and a close battle between Taylor and Schwartz transpired right at the finish. Taylor was third by a nose, Schwartz was fourth and Carroll in fifth.

With only one race left, Carroll refrained from participating in the final race knowing the fight for other top positions had intensified.

The final race of the eight-part event series was held under the same light conditions as the first. After two general recalls, PRO Robin Wallace was quick to act on the fleets starting line aggression hoisting a black flag into effect. The clean start put Geoff Pierini's Shakedown around the top mark in first with Michas, Schwartz and Plaxton right behind. As the fleet progressed downwind, through the gate and back upwind, Schwartz edged his way to the front of the pack to round the last mark of the day in first. Pierini longed to regain the lead, but hot on his heels were Michael Dominguez's Bronco and Plaxton. Schwartz extended his lead ever so slightly to comfortably cross the finish line in first. Plaxton and Dominguez finished second and third respectively.

Results:

Pos Yacht Owner/Skipper R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Tot Net
      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 O  
1 Argo Jason Carroll 1 2 1 1 1 1 5 13/DNS [13] 12
2 Intac Mark Plaxton 5 7 2 3 4 9 2 4 [9] 27
3 SLED Takashi Okura 2 1 6 8 2 3 10 9 [10] 31
4 Pisces Benjamin Schwartz 8 9 8 2 7 5 4 1 [9] 35
5 Ramrod Rodrick Jabin 6 3 5 10 5 4 6 8 [10] 37
6 Dark N'Stormy Edward Tillinghast 3 5 4 4 8 13/DNF 9 6 [13] 39
7 Ninkasi John Taylor 10 4 11 5 9 2 3 10 [11] 43
8 Mojo Steve Rhyne 4 6 9 7 3 7 11 7 [11] 43
9 Sicktrix Geoffrey Pierini 9 10 3 6 6 13/DNF 8 2 [13] 44
10 Bronco Michael Dominguez 11 8 7 9 13/DNS 6 7 3 [13] 51
11 Zetiana Alexis Michas 7 11 10 11 13/DNS 8 1 5 [13] 53
12 Warpath Stephen Howe 13/DNC 13/DNC 13/DNC 13/DNC 13/DNC 13/DNC 13/DNC 13/DNC [13] 91

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